


Gotham: Noir

by NerdWItch



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 23:19:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15278412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdWItch/pseuds/NerdWItch
Summary: "Gotham; this is where I was born. This was my home and this is where I died. But we'll get to that part later – first I'm going to tell you a story. It's the story of the most dangerous case I ever worked with a detective named John Blake. This is the story of how we met the Riddler." (POST TDKR)





	1. Chapter 1

One

This is Gotham City; my home town. This is where I was born and surely this is where I will die. Yeah, I know, that sounds pretty dramatic but when you get older, sometimes you just know. It's that feeling you get in your gut that you can't quite shake. As a policeman, the first thing they teach you in cop school is to always trust your gut. It's helped me through a lot in the past couple years because sometimes not even solid evidence is enough to crack a case wide open. It was that gut feeling I walked out of my apartment with this morning; something was going to happen. It had been close to nine months since 'the Revolution' as they called it and the city has been quiet.

Too quiet.

It started as an average Wednesday at work with paper work to fill in, phone calls to the mayor and nearly endless amounts off coffee. It wasn't until nearly lunchtime when a young officer who had only been in the force for a few weeks knocked on my door and came into my office. A young woman, only in her early twenties or so but I could never remember her name.

"Sir – these just came through for you." she said. I sighed and thanked her as I took the envelope form her hand. I knew what they were; the divorce papers my wife had sent through. All I had to do was to sign it and then our divorce would be finalised. It wasn't the divorce itself that bothered because to be honest, mine and Molly's marriage had started deteriorating years ago. It was the thought of not getting to see my kids that broke my heart more than anything. The lawyers had decided to give Molly full custody of James and Callie because apparently I am unfit to look after them. I can't say I blame them really, my lifestyle is far from safe and if anything every happened to them on my watch, I would never forgive myself. The sound of the phone ringing snapped me out of my thoughts and I picked it up to answer.

"This is Gordon. Yeah, I'll be right there." A body had been found by the old abandoned Gotham Broadcasting Centre before the new one had opened some ten years ago. The old building was normally a hideout for the local junkies looking for a place where they could seek out their thrills without any cops lurking around. Often enough, one or two city officials were found in the area buying their dope off the dealers, thinking nobody would notice. Of course, people always did it was just that nobody dared talking about it. After Carmine Falcone's death, drug dealers had learnt to be more careful and it made the job more difficult for undercover cops. The old GBC building was close to the harbour and by the time me and a couple other officers got there the crime scene had been sealed off and our pathologist, Evan, was observing the body. It was a job I didn't envy in the slightest.

"Morning Jim; this isn't a nice one." I'd known Evan for decades. We'd been friends as kids and went to the same high school once upon a time. His wife had left him a year ago and cheated on him with a close friend so we were in a similar place. I walked up to the body, it was a woman in her maybe mid thirties. She had long ginger hair and was wearing casual clothes. Externally it didn't seem as though there'd been a struggle but her face was pale and cold.  
"What happened to her?"

"Well, I estimate time of death at some time between 2.20 and 2.45AM. Look at this." Evan tilted her head and showed me a punctuation mark at the back of her neck which had left a sort of black smudge.

"She's been injected with some kind of poison. And then there's this." As Evan opened up her mouth I could see that her tongue had been cut off. Then there was something else strange, there was writing on her neck with a black permanent marker.

"'What's looser that a thread, a fish, flying ribbons?'"

"…a woman's tongue." said one of the younger officers. The poor kid looked like he was going to be sick but still managed to keep a straight face. Seeing your first dead body was something you would never forget. I bent down to have a closer look at the body. It was gruesome; This woman had been murdered and had her tongue cut off by some sick psychopath and left her out in the cold. This was going to be a fun one for the press to get their hands on.

"Her name was Jessica Niall Sir; she was married to Arthur Niall. He's one of the committee members of Wayne Enterprises." Ah, John Blake – I'd always kept my eyes on that boy. He had incredible potential and reminded me a lot of myself in my early days in GCPD. Maybe in a couple of years, he would be where I am.

"So, what would you to Detective?" I asked him.

"We check her phone, see who she last called and then we speak to her husband. She must've been out here for a reason." Suggested Blake and I nodded at him.

"Well done Detective; Wayne Enterprises it is."

"Can I drive Sir?"

I smiled. "No."

To be continued….


	2. Two

Two

Wayne Enterprises was in many ways the pride and jewel of Gotham. Ever since the announced death of Bruce Wayne, the company had been lead in the hands of Lucius Fox but of course not everybody was pleased about this. There were a lot of different political agendas at play underneath the surface of Wayne Enterprises and I was sure even corruption to some extent.

"She's dead? She can't be! You must have the wrong body!" Denial was usually the first step of grief. Arthur Niall, a man in his early forties broke down in tears at the news of his wife's death.

"Mr. Niall, we realise this is difficult for you but we need to ask you some questions. Why would your wife be out there in the middle of the night?" asked Blake. I'd decided to let him take the lead in this one, mostly because I wanted to see how his mind worked. Arthur Niall dried his tears and seemed to be deep in thought for a few moments until he spoke again.

"I, uhm, I don't know." he stuttered. "Jessica never liked those neighbourhoods nor did she know people there. All I know is that she was supposed to be at a charity dinner last night."

"Where were you last night between 2.20 and 2.45AM?" This was the question that always seemed to wake people up, Mr. Niall was no exception.

"I was working late. It's been a bit hectic here recently as you probably know. You're not seriously suggesting that I killed her?" There was anger in his voice and defensiveness to prove his own innocence.

"Did you?" asked Blake.

"No! I loved Jessica for God's sake! Fifteen years we've been married!" All my years in the force had taught me one thing and that was to spot a liar when I saw. Arthur Niall was definitely hiding something and I wanted to find out what. We thanked him for his time and once again giving our condolences. I grabbed Blake aside and lingered a bit until I was certain that Mr. Niall had left out of earshot.

"He's lying." I said as we made our way back downstairs to the car.

"How can you know for sure Sir?" asked Blake

"Son, nobody gives an alibi that quickly unless he's planned it out in advance. He may not have killed his way but he sure as hell wasn't working last night. I want you to find out where he was. Someone in that building knows something. Dig it up."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the Mayor's office to stop the press release. Jessica Niall was a senator candidate. Can you imagine what that will do the election campaign if the media gets hold of this story?"

So now I had a dead senator candidate on my hands in the middle of a very important election campaign. If this got public before we found the killer it would be bad not only for the campaign but for the GCPD. What puzzled me the most was the riddle on Jessica's back. To me it seemed well thought through, almost as if she had been specifically targeted; not only that but the killer must have known that we would find her. The familiar sight of the Mayor's office dawned upon me as I parked my car on West 54th Street. Mayor Andrew 'Andy' Thornton had been in office for the past four years and had gained a lot of popularity in the general public. He'd driven a hard campaign to rebuild Gotham after Bane's temporary reign of madness. Millions of dollars had been put into the rebuilding and strengthening of Blackgate Prison.

"Jim! I haven't seen you in weeks! Have you been avoiding me? How's Molly and the kids?" Andy always seemed to have a smile on his face and a witty line to counter at you. Of course, that was just a mask to hide the real stress and pressure that came with his job.

"Moll and I divorcing." I told hi and sat down by the desk opposite him.

"Oh…" Andy's face fell. "I'm sorry to hear that. How are you holding up?"

"Nah, that's life isn't it. I'm fine, don't worry. That's not why I'm here."

"Well no, you're always here with bad news these days. Give it to me straight Jimbo."

"Jessica Niall's been murdered. Her body was found this morning by the old broadcasting building."

"...shit me." Andy went silent for a while and leaned back in his chair. "How?"

"She had some sort of a poison injected in her. We don't know which one yet, the lab is analysing it as we speak. Then there's this." I passed him the photographs of Jessica's cut off tongue and the riddle at the back of her neck. Andy winced as he looked at them and quickly passed them back to me.

"What sick bastard would do this?"

"We don't yet, we're interviewing possible suspects. You need stop the press from getting this Andy." He nodded in agreement and I leaned forward. "Where were you between 2.20 and 2.45 last night?" Andy looked up at me and said nothing. He got up and closed the door behind him so that nobody else would hear the conversation.

"Now look Jim, I know what you're thinking but I didn't kill Jessica. Do you have any idea what that would do to my career; my reputation? Yes we had a thing and yes it ended quite badly, but I have…I had no hard feelings to her then and I don't now. All these years we've been friends Jim and you're asking me this?"

"I have to do my job Andy. Until we have any more concrete proof, everyone's a suspect."

I hoped Blake would have more luck interviewing possible suspects than I'd had. At least the press release of this story would be postponed until further notice. When I got back to the precinct Blake was still out and I decided to make a few phone calls and then head down to the lab to see how the analysis of the poison was going. As opposed to the movies and cop shows, it was hard work catching a killer and not quite so glamorous as it may seem. As I entered my office I was greeted by a small package on my desk with a note attached to it. As far as I knew I didn't have any secret admirers.

"'I hope you like it, picked it out especially for you.'" It wasn't signed with a name, only a red question-mark at the bottom left corner of the paper. I unwrapped it and hesitated for a bit before I finally opened it.

"Jesus Goddamn!" I cursed and dropped the box. I took a breath and gave myself a few seconds before I bent down and looked closer at it.

It was Jessica Niall's missing left ear.

To be continued….

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